In my opinion, Drudkh is by far the most consistent and prolific black metal band of recent times. Beginning with 2003’s Forgotten Legends, the Ukranian band led by the genius that is Roman Saenko has carved their own niche in atmospheric black metal. Often imitated, they have loomed large in the scene despite their utter lack of live appearances. The members of Drudkh have side projects (Blood of Kingu, Precambrian, Windswept) that have left a bigger impression on me than some people’s “masterwork”. While many will debate their mid era’s quality (Anything after Blood In Our Wells until A Furrow Cut Short), it is hard for anyone to debate that as a whole, Drudkh is a genre main stay, bordering on legendary. They’ve gone from doing small runs of CDs on obscure labels, to as “mainstream” as an underground black metal band gets doing large pressings on Season of Mist. Their records are in common circulation. Their merch is easy to get. You would be hard pressed to find a true fan of the genre completely unfamiliar with their work. While none of this necessarily speaks to quality, all of these characteristics of Drudkh are well deserved.

Despite the fact that my listening trends towards “extreme metal” (whatever that even means), I’ve always gravitated towards melodic music. I love repeatitive, trance inducing arrangements of notes that loop for long periods of time. I prefer atmosphere to aggression, beauty to dissonance (for the most part), and A lot of people all of that boring. Sucks for them or something. Drudkh excels at all of these things I like, and are responsible for one of the best metal albums ever. Continue Reading

So apparently we’re doing this thing where we talk about 5 albums that came out from 2000-2010 that had a huge influence on us. Here’s what shaped me into a bitter old man with disdain for pretty much everything.